The Nitzanim Sand Dune Nature Reserve is a 21,600 dunam area within the area between Ashdod and

Ashkelon Ashkelon or Ashqelon (; Hebrew: , , ; Philistine: ), also known as Ascalon (; Ancient Greek: , ; Arabic: , ), is a coastal city in the Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border wit ...

on the Southern Coastal Plain of the Israeli Mediterranean Sea coast."Nitzanim Nature Reserve"
/ref>"Nitzanim Sands Reserve"
Ashdod Travellers Guide at the Ashdod municipal website It was declared as a public area in early 1980s by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel and designated as a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

on June 2, 2005. The Reserve includes a small settlement of Nitzan located in place of the

Nitzanim Nitzanim ( he, נִצָּנִים, ''lit.'' Flower buds) is a kibbutz in southern Israel. Located between Ashkelon and Ashdod on the Nitzanim dunes, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof Ashkelon Regional Council. In it had a population of . ...

kibbutz, which was resettled some 3-4 km to the south. The reserve is split in two parts by the Nahal Evtah (Evtach, Avtah) ( he, נחל אבטח)

wadi Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water ...

(Wadi el Ibtah) which leads to the Nitzanim Beach by the sea. The beach is a public area not part of the Reserve. The area south of the stream is designated for the

IDF IDF or idf may refer to: Defence forces * Irish Defence Forces * Israel Defense Forces *Iceland Defense Force, of the US Armed Forces, 1951-2006 * Indian Defence Force, a part-time force, 1917 Organizations * Israeli Diving Federation * Interac ...

recruit training base (Camp Yehoshua) and is closed to public. The northern part is open to public all year round free of charge. In 2005, during the

Israeli disengagement from Gaza The Israeli disengagement from Gaza ( he, תוכנית ההתנתקות, ') was the unilateral dismantling in 2005 of the 21 Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip and the evacuation of Israeli settlers and army from inside the Gaza Strip. T ...

there was a controversial plan to resettle some

Israeli settlers Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli (b ...

from

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

to the Nitzanim Dunes area. (BBC)
/ref>

References

{{coord, 31, 44, 13, N, 34, 36, 53, E, type:landmark_region:IL_dim:10000, display=title Protected areas of Central District (Israel) Nature reserves in Israel Coasts of the Mediterranean Sea Dunes of Israel

See also

References